Why bicep curls are bad

While you may be hesitant to go down in weight, rest assured you'll feel the exercise just as much if not more when you perform the move correctly at a lower weight than incorrectly at higher weight. Especially if you tend to "ego lift" more weight than you can sustain with proper form, you may be unintentionally performing curls with only partial range of motion. Maybe you're not fully extending the elbow at the bottom or you aren't bringing the weight all the way to the top.

Fix it: As long as you can perform the entire exercise pain-free, full range of motion should be the goal, Becourtney says. Choose a weight that you can curl with the full range of motion through your entire set and rep range. Just make sure you aren't hyperextending or locking out your elbows at the bottom. While you should focus on contracting your biceps during your curls, don't neglect your wrists, either, says Becourtney.

Often, people lose wrist control during the exercise, allowing the weight to control or collapse the wrist, especially during the lowering portion. Fix it: Keep your wrist in a slightly flexed position that you're able to maintain throughout the movement, says Becourtney. Don't let your wrist flip into extension as you lower the weight, as this can increase risk of injury. Often paired with using momentum during the exercise, you may notice your elbows flare out or move behind your back as you lift the weight, says Mathew Forzaglia , certified personal trainer and founder of Forzag Fitness on the NEOU App.

Fix it: Using a mirror, focus on keeping the elbows pinned to the sides of your body, keeping a straight back, too. If you struggle to keep your elbows at your sides, you may need to lower the weight you're using. Elbow flexion bending the elbow can only occur with the help of several muscles , including your biceps brachii, brachioradials and brachialis, Becourtney says.

But performing only one version of a curl can sometimes lead to neglect of certain accessory muscles in this movement.

Fix it: Vary your grip on the weights in order to hit all of these muscles. In addition to the palms-up, standard grip, try neutral grip hammer curls and palms down reverse curls. Bicep curls cause hypertrophy, or growth in muscle size, of the bicep. Building a strong bicep muscle also adds to the appearance of strength in the upper body.

Strengthening the front of the arm can help create a leaner and more toned appearance, so bicep curls are a common upper-body exercise used to get people "tank top" ready. A lot of people tend to move too much — swinging their hips or moving their whole arm while curling. Bicep curls need to be performed slowly and steadily to obtain the maximum benefits.

This takes away from the biceps and ultimately decreases the efficiency of a bicep curl. There are plenty of ways to increase your strength gradually. For a modified bicep curl, only raise the dumbbell half way in the curl stopping when your elbow is bent at 90 degrees or use 1- or 2-pound weights. Rotating your arms in circles is a great way to get your blood flowing and warm up your arms before trying a bicep curl. Purposefully Primitive. Our ancestors built their amazing functional fitness through intense, daily physical demands and a no-nonsense, super-basic diet.

Restore mobility — and protect yourself from injury — with this short upper-body warm-up. Equipment-Based Workouts Workouts. The Push-Pull Workout. Even out your pushes and pulls with this fat-burning, muscle-building, full-body workout. If you are someone who is after big arms then feel free to curl your brains out, there is nothing wrong with them at all and if your goal is to have big biceps then curls are the way to go.

All rights reserved. News Ticker. Conclusion If you are someone who is after big arms then feel free to curl your brains out, there is nothing wrong with them at all and if your goal is to have big biceps then curls are the way to go. My advice: If you need to skip a day, skip bicep day instead of leg day.